The Michigan Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved 911 surcharges in 68 counties. Proposed surcharges in 46 of the counties were lowered by regulators before gaining final approval.

Wireless phone users will pay extra 911 fees ranging from 18 cents to $2.51 per month, depending on where they live.

The action was the result of a new state law allowing counties to charge 911 fees to cell phone users.

Counties previously could impose a monthly 911 fee only on landline bills, which critics said unfairly shouldered those users with paying for emergency systems while cell phone usage drastically increased in recent years. Cell phones outnumber land lines in Michigan.

The PSC limited the total extra 911 revenue to be collected to no more than 2.7 percent higher than what counties collected in 2007.

The new law signed in December also lowered the state's 29-cent 911 surcharge on cell phone bills to 19 cents, with land line users now paying that state charge as well.

Scott Stevenson, president of the Telecommunications Association of Michigan, applauded the PSC's decision to reject higher fees proposed by some counties.

"Many counties were trying to exploit the new funding system by raising taxes after promising legislators last year that changing the law would not result in sharply higher revenue," he said.

Fourteen counties didn't file applications with the PSC seeking a surcharge. Leelanau County filed one but then withdrew its application.